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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26758537">Misery Loves Company</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/pseuds/Val_Creative'>Val_Creative</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kinktober/Whumptober/Goretober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Action/Adventure, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Casual Sex, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Fivesome - F/F/M/M/M, Gore, Goretober, Humor, Kinktober, Kinktober 2020, Knifeplay, Light Angst, M/M, Partial Nudity, Polyamory, Post-Canon, Post-Movie: The Old Guard (2020), Rescue Missions, Restraints, Romantic Friendship, Temporary Character Death, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, Women Being Awesome</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:13:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,848</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26758537</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Val_Creative/pseuds/Val_Creative</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nile learns the group dynamics over time. Sometimes it feels like a dream... but she would rather not wake from it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache/Booker | Sebastien/Nile Freeman/Joe | Yusuf/Nicky | Nicolò, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Kinktober/Whumptober/Goretober 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949473</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>96</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Kinktober 2020, Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Misery Loves Company</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am SO EXCITED to start posting for October! 🎃🖤💚🧡 I love this movie so much (omg I finally watched it) and I'm late to the party. But please accept my first attempt at The Old Guard movie fanfic! Any thoughts/comments are welcomed!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>*</p><p>"Nile…"</p><p>At first, she thinks it's a dream. Colorful. Dizzyingly bright and fluorescent. Nile turns her head slowly, unable to focus her eyes until she blinks fast. Hunched against a low-end wooden chair, Andy tilts her head up. Dark blood gleams on her lips.</p><p>"There you are, kid…" Andy whispers, managing a smirk.</p><p>"<em>Shit</em>," Nile breathes. It's all coming back.</p><p>They landed themselves in northwestern Budapest, gathering intel on a ring of sex traffickers fleeing the law.</p><p>Somewhere in Erzsébetváros, Nile found herself ambushed while ducking into an underpass. Her ribs cracked inside her. Her head split open by a metal pipe. Instead of leaving her to die, they bagged Nile, and a glaring, dying Nicky, but Nile doesn't see him anywhere.</p><p>Her wrists fight thick steel shackles holding Nile's arms behind her. Her legs chained together as well. She kicks uselessly.</p><p>"Oh, shit… <em>shit</em>."</p><p>"Take a breath, Nile," Joe murmurs. He's right next to her, tied up with steel shackles as well. He sounds groggy. "You're okay."</p><p>Nile thrashes her head wildly, panting. Hot sweat drips down her neck. "We've been made," she hisses. They know. They <em>have</em> to know. The bad guys <em>have to know</em> Nile and her friends are immortal—why else would they be <em>captured</em>?</p><p>Andy raises her eyebrows a little. She's the only one left untied. "That seems to be the case."</p><p>More dark blood gushes between Andy's fingers clamping on her stomach.</p><p>Joe's features tighten.</p><p>Nile opens her mouth, feeling dizzier than ever.</p><p>
  <em>"You're—"</em>
</p><p>"Don't worry about me right now," Andy says curtly. "Finish the mission. We saw the little boys and we know they're still alive."</p><p>She talks like her commanding officer. Never to be questioned. Never to be disrespected or disobeyed.</p><p>Nile instinctively wants to be Andy's soldier. It's what the US Marines taught her but she's no longer one. It's been half a year since Andy regained her mortality, and every second to Nile feels like walking on hidden mines. Terrified that Andy will die this time around.</p><p>Nile stubbornly sets her jaw.</p><p>
  <em>Like hell.</em>
</p><p>"Did you hear me, kid?"</p><p>"Not without you," Nile replies, calm as calm can be.</p><p>Joe glances to Nile, his expression softening. There's a kind of irrational and powerful love he has that Nile couldn't begin to explain. It's for them. <em>All of them</em>. They can't lose each other no matter how long or little they knww of each other.</p><p>"We're not going anywhere, Andy," he repeats, grinning cheerfully. "Not until you pick your ass up."</p><p>Andy scoffs. The ends of her bloodied, bruised mouth twitch up.</p><p>That's when the gilded-glass doors shatter apart.</p><p>Nile stiffens until she realizes it's Nicky charging in, hoisting his sniper-rifle at eye level and prepared to fire. He lowers his weapon, examining the others in growing astonishment. There's no security pacing the marbled green floors. There's no cameras. Nile noticed that too. Despite the urgency in injuring and capturing them, she's yet to encounter one of the traffickers.</p><p>Booker follows behind Nicky, aiming a pistol towards the exit. He's wearing a black knitted cap and dark jeans—wait—<em>Booker</em>?</p><p>"Darling," Nicky whispers in Italian, grasping the back of Joe's head and fiercely kissing his forehead.</p><p>His relief makes Nile shiver.</p><p>"We're here. We're here with you." Joe leans forward, helping Nicky locate the steel shackles around his wrists and unlocking them. He sends Nicky an overly amused look, grinning once again and speaking to him also in Italian, "You kept me waiting."</p><p>Nicky's pale face lights up. "What's minutes compared to a millennia?"</p><p>Booker tuts, unlocking Nile's own shackles.</p><p>"Let's focus," Andy mutters. She reaches for Nile's slender, brown hand, climbing onto her own feet and groaning. Her eyes linger on a forlorn-looking Booker backing off and then to Nile's determined stare. Andy stares back quietly, verging on wonderstruck.</p><p>Two bullets whizz in the air. One strikes Andy's heart and the other through her fingers covering her abdomen.</p><p><em>"No!</em>" Booker howls.</p><p>"Andy!"</p><p>
  <em>"Motherfucker!"</em>
</p><p>Nicky and Joe's screams echo in Nile's mind.</p><p>Four or five of the traffickers enter the room with revolvers pointed on them. Nile gasps soundlessly, feeling numbed-out.</p><p>Andy sinks to her knees, bleeding out and choking for air.</p><p>Her eyes widen.</p><p>In a matter of moments, she dies, slumping onto the floor.</p><p>That should have been it. Nile watches on, dazed and horror-struck, as the bullet pops itself out of Andy's healing stomach. One of the traffickers curses in what Nile assumes is German, as Andy eases herself upright, appearing just as confused as Nile.</p><p>"Oho," Nicky breathes, smiling maniacally. He clings to Joe's side. "You all are <em>so very fucked</em> now."</p><p>Andy grabs onto Nile's shackles, leaping to her feet expertly and dodging another bullet. She wraps it to a trafficker's neck, pulling and cutting off his oxygen. Booker raises his pistol, shooting the closest trafficker to him and another running.</p><p>From there, Nile knows only one thing:</p><p>Survive.</p><p>*</p><p>Her blood dribbles onto a stone cobblestone path. Nile winces, rubbing off her nose and face.</p><p>All of the sex traffickers and their associates in the penthouse have been eliminated. Booker discovered the little starved boys huddled together in a back-room. They've been handed over to people Copley assures them they can trust. Before anyone else could contact them, Nile and the rest disappear into Romania after a two hour drive. Her bones realigned.</p><p>Joe yawns out the window, hooking an arm comfortably around Nicky snoring open-mouthed. Lumps of reddish gore dry in their hair. They all look like extras from a B-rated zombie horror movie. Nile hates washing out the blood. She <em>never</em> feels clean.</p><p>"Was that better or worse than the Siege of Zaculeu, Boss?"</p><p>Booker checks the halls of the abandoned monastery with Nile, signaling everyone. There's no running water. Andy says that nobody will bother them. The locals think it's haunted by demons. Nile shivers, fiddling nervously with her tiny, gold cross.</p><p>"I gotta say better than Ningpo," Andy says, touching Nile's shoulder as she passes her. "Remember the massacre?"</p><p>Nicky peels off his dark red-soaked clothes. "No, no. Egypt, 1890."</p><p>"Egypt? Really?" Joe asks, squinting his eyes in bemusement.</p><p>Andy strips off her tank top. Both of their gazes wander contemplatively over the exposed, blood-speckled muscles. Booker's lower lip grinds against his teeth. Nile suddenly feels warm all-over. "I'll take Egypt over India," Andy mumbles.</p><p>"You know what," Nile says, putting up her hands in defeat and half-smiling. "I'm not gonna ask no more."</p><p>"We don't mind if you do."</p><p>Nile feels herself melting at Andy's gentle tone like she's a dumb high schooler again. Crushing on every girl who was <em>nice</em> to Nile. This is ridiculous. She jerks her head away, scratching a braid. "You're immortal again, Andy," Joe announces.</p><p>"Rotten luck."</p><p>A wet, loud chuckle erupts from Nicky's mouth. He spits out blood through his teeth, whining lowly as Joe rubs his nape. Booker seats himself in a pew, covering a nostril with a fingertip and snorting out a bullet-shard through his other nostril.</p><p>"It was supposed to be a hundred years, Book," Andy speaks up grimly. "You've been tailing us."</p><p>"Can't say I'm complaining," Nile utters. She shrugs when the others frown and mutter to each other.</p><p>Booker tenses himself up, stretching his arms over his head and then glancing up. "You know I couldn't stay away from you," he whispers. Andy's green-blue eyes narrow in vulnerability. She shudders an inhale. Booker's mouth quirks. "<em>Any</em> of you."</p><p>Nile wonders what they'll do until Booker stands. Andy hugs him, her naked breasts flattening up his ripped, dark tee.</p><p>"Welcome back, asshole," she says gruffly, near tears.</p><p>Booker's eyes shut tightly. He says nothing, overcome by emotion and burying his mouth lovingly into Andy's flesh-gore hair.</p><p>Nile smiles so hard that it aches.</p><p>"Awh," Joe coos, prodding Booker's shoulder. "Now kiss already. We know you two wanna."</p><p>"Says you," Andy retorts.</p><p>"I'll kiss <em>both</em> of you—how about that?" Booker offers, laughing as Joe's fist playfully punches his arm.</p><p>"Kiss <em>my ass</em>."</p><p>*</p><p>She's still getting used to this. All of this.</p><p>Nile wanders, unable to shake off the faintest buzz of adrenaline.</p><p>There's no escaping what they all are. What they have to do. Protecting the innocent and doing some good in the world is what Nile signed up for when she was recruited. It's what she hoped to achieve. She didn't know any better with the US Marines. Nile understands that.</p><p>But she's <em>still</em> a soldier at heart and there's a new army to join.</p><p><em>F</em><em>idelity, Honor, Valor</em>—it's what Nile believes in.</p><p>Heading inside, she finds them gathering up in the dormitory. The area cleared out of furniture. Blankets tossed aside. Years and years of dirt films the limestone. Nile pushes away a cobweb, grimacing. There's sounds of heavy, ragged breathing.</p><p>Andy and Booker hold a conversation, leaning against a wall and brushing knuckles, and—well, it's not <em>them</em>—</p><p>"Gorgeous," Joe's voice rises trembling when Nicky buckles on him. His hands slide up Nicky's flushed back, cradling him. Neither of them dressed. Nicky moans, smiling at the admiration of Joe's words and touching his beard. "You are <em>beyond</em> gorgeous. <em>Beyond</em> language. I want to live inside you. I want us to feel each other's heartbeats when you make love to me."</p><p>
  <em>"Yusuf—"</em>
</p><p>He circles his hips, grunting and thrusting down until a sliver of Joe's cock glistens between Nicky's buttocks. The pleasure heightens as Nicky flips open a blade. He flattens it against Joe's brownish-pink lips and slyly kisses the iron.</p><p>Joe returns the kiss, rumbling a laugh.</p><p>"Come sit," Andy says to Nile, patting the space next to her.</p><p>"Is…?"</p><p>Nile's mouth goes dry. She tries to not ogle the men further and dumps herself next to Andy.</p><p>"Okay, yeah…"</p><p>Andy spares her a look, and it's not quite sympathy. It's not reprimanding. "Is this your first time?"</p><p>"My first time… watching other people have sex…?" Nile blurts out.</p><p>Booker snickers. Andy's lips perk up.</p><p>The answer is no. It's not. During basic training, Nile witnessed Lydia and Tasha fooling around in the same bunk in the middle of the night. They draped the sleeping bags over themselves. Everyone kept their mouth shut. That's how it was.</p><p>Despite not touching herself, Nile felt <em>shame</em> that she wanted to. The hypnotic rhythm of whimpers. Squish-soft noises.</p><p>She doesn't feel shame when Joe gestures for Booker, and when Andy stands over Nicky to kiss him, and when Andy's hand seeks Nile's own. Nile feels Joe's fingers cupping her face and Andy's palm rucking under Nile's turquoise blouse.</p><p>Booker's mouth grins against Nile's cheek.</p><p>Nicky whines out, bouncing, clenching up as Joe spurts deep inside him. One of Nicky's hands stuff inside Andy's underwear.</p><p>Andy hooks an arm to Booker's neck, grinding back against his lap and letting Joe roam a familiar hand over her breast. Nile throbs wet at the sight of Nicky's cock pulsing globs of warm, white fluid on Andy and Booker fondling him.</p><p>Sometimes this feels like a dream.</p><p>Nile would rather not wake.</p><p>*</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Kinktober 2020 prompt(s): <b>Knifeplay</b><br/>Whumptober 2020 prompt(s): <b>Waking Up Restrained, Shackled</b><br/>Goretober 2020 prompt(s): <b>Bleeding out</b></p></blockquote></div></div>
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